This is an update of an article I first posted 2 years ago. Two things prompted me to post it again at this time. First, it’s a good follow up to last week’s article on the growth of Islam. And second, last week, at the last minute, Turkey booted Israel out of a joint training exercise also involving Italy and the US. When they withdrew in protest, Turkeyresponded by scheduling a training exercise with Syria instead. The reason Turkey gave was Israel’s inability to deliver an order of Heron surveillance drones to Turkey on the agreed schedule, even though it was the failure of a part produced by Turkey that made on time delivery impossible.

Turkey has been distancing itself from Israel since the Gaza offensive, and on top of the canceled training exercise recently began airing a TV series depicting Israeli soldiers as child killers. Inside sources indicate that Turkish PM Erdogan has become convinced that Turkey is destined to play a more pivotal role in Middle Eastern politics by reviving the Ottoman Empire. To that end Turkey has been more involved in MidEast diplomacy, acting as a mediator between Syria and Israel, and has formed a pact with Syria and Iran that features increased military and commercial involvement among the three. Some see in this the re-birth of an end times military force known as the King of the North in Daniel 11.   Let’s take a closer look.

The Kings Of The North And The South

“At the time of the end the king of the South will engage him in battle, and the king of the North will storm out against him with chariots and cavalry and a great fleet of ships. He will invade many countries and sweep through them like a flood.” (Daniel 11:40)

Three separate kings are in view in this one verse and their identities must be discovered to fully understand what will happen in the days leading up to the end. They are the King of the North, the King of the South, and the one who was identified in Daniel 11:36 as the king who exalts himself. We call him the anti-Christ. All of Daniel 11:4-35 has been taken up with a discussion of various generations of the King of the North and the King of the South, but the King who exalts himself is neither, and subdues them both.

First, the King of the North. The vision of Daniel 11 was given in 536BC and begins with an angel telling him what would happen to the Persian Kingdom then in power. After 3 more Persian Kings, a fourth would arise, an especially rich and powerful King. This Persian King, who we know as Xerxes I, took as his queen the Jewish woman Hadassah, called Esther in the Persian language (Esther 2:16-17). He put together a mighty army and mounted an unsuccessful attempt to conquer Greece in 480BC. About 150 years later the tables would be turned and a King from Greece would conquer the Persian Empire. This was fulfilled by Alexander the Great.

Then Daniel was told in effect that Alexander’s Kingdom would be divided into four pieces according to the four winds of heaven, not going to his offspring. (After Alexander’s death his four generals divided up the Kingdom among them.) The next 30 verses are devoted to the families of two of the four, Seleucus, known in Daniel 11 as the first King of the North and Ptolemy, the first King of the South. 135 historically confirmed prophecies are contained in the first 35 verses of Daniel 11, most having to do with the descendants of these two men. The other two generals, Cassander (West) and Lysimachus (East) are not mentioned here, but in fact Cassander went back to their homeland and ruled over Macedonia, and Lysimachus eventually lost his portion to Seleucus.

So the first kings of the North and the South were Seleucus and Ptolemy. For territory Seleucus eventually got control of what we now know as Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and parts of Turkey. Reigning for a time from Babylon in modern Iraq, he built a new capital city 20 miles to the south east on the Tigris river and named it Seleucia. Ptolemy took Libya, Egypt, the Sudan, Israel and Jordan, and chose Alexandria in Egypt as his capital.

Through their descendants, these two kings fought each other for control of the known world for the next several hundred years. Then Daniel 11:33-35 brings us to the Macabean revolt when the last important King of the North, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, was defeated.

History To Prophecy

 

Up till now this has all been a recounting of history. Beginning in verse 36 we fast forward to the time of the end when modern versions of these two kings will go after the anti-Christ. What would make them do that? Well, here’s where we get a little more speculative. There’s a growing body of evidence suggesting that a struggle is underway between Arab Moslems and non-Arab Moslems for control of the emerging Islamic Empire. The goal of Islam is a single Islamic World Empire, or Caliphate as it’s called, and there’s fierce competition to see who can bring it about. This competition finds Iran, and the countries aligned with it, pitted against Egypt and its allies. The Iran group is largely non-Arab and Shiite and the Egyptian group is largely Arab and Sunni.

It should not surprise students of prophecy to learn that Iran’s group is almost identical in territory to the Biblical King of the North and Egypt’s group is a modern equivalent of the King of the South, with the addition of Saudi Arabia and absent Israel. (Of all the countries involved, Syria is the biggest anomaly here, being Arab speaking and predominately Sunni. Maybe this is why Iran reportedly has a contingency plan to depose Bashar Assad if it becomes necessary.)

But remember, according to Daniel 12:1 we’re talking about the beginning of the Great Tribulation here. Both Isaiah 17 and Ezekiel 38-39 will occur before this competition for Moslem supremacy comes to a head. This tells us that while Syria will cease to be a factor after Isaiah 17 and is not even mentioned in Ezekiel 38, Iran will neither be pre-emptively destroyed by the US and/or Israel (even if an attempt is made) nor completely taken out of play because of Ezekiel’s battle, and will recover to contend for Moslem supremacy.

Ezekiel’s phrase “ send down fire” (Ezekiel 39:6), which many believe to be a reference to nuclear warfare, is directed at Magog, the distant coastlines (somewhere beyond the Mediterranean) and the battle field in Israel. No mention is made of any destruction in Persia (Iran). Whatever Iranian forces are involved in Israel will be decimated, but Iran itself will survive.

Followers of middle East politics can already spot the jockeying between these two groups for Islamic supremacy. For instance, remember how Osama bin Laden, a Sunni from Saudi Arabia, condemned the Shiite Hezbollah for “prematurely” going to war with Israel in the summer of 2006? Even though Israel is their common enemy, he warned the Arab world not to support the Hezbollah action. Lately it’s been rumored that if push comes to shove, Saudi Arabian air space will be opened to Israeli jets on their way to bomb Iranian nuclear targets. (Although reported in the British news, Saudi Arabian officials deny this.)   And notice how Iran has displaced Saudi Arabiaas the primary sponsor for Hamas, even though Hamas is Sunni. To win this competition, you have to control Jerusalem. All of Iran’s positioning with Hamas, Syria, and Hezbollah is directed toward that end.

If this view is correct we should expect to see more jockeying between these two groups, building to a point where at the outset of the Great Tribulation only a king superior in power and authority to both can unite them. This superior King will have to be an Islamic figure with an even greater right to head the Caliphate than either the King of the North or the King of the South, and even then they won’t give up without a battle.

A Non-Traditional Perspective

Of course this view requires that the one world religion of the last days will be Islam, not some version of Catholicism or New Age pantheism. And it makes it more likely that when the anti-Christ emerges, he’ll come from the Eastern leg of the Roman Empire, not the West. Constantinople (Istanbul) is also known as a city on seven hills, is a former capitol of the Roman Empire, and can just as easily fulfill the prophecy of Rev. 17:9 as Rome does.

As details of Islamic eschatology become more widely known, prophecy students are discovering striking similarities between descriptions of al Mahdi, sometimes called the Moslem Messiah, or 12th Imam, and a figure from Christian eschatology called the anti-Christ. I’ve made mention of them in previous articles, how in their respective prophecies both come on the scene during a time of great turmoil on Earth, both come claiming a desire to restore peace, both have a seven year reign, both head a one world religion and one world government, both claim supernatural origins, and both reigns end in a battle between good and evil that brings Earth’s final judgment.

He will also invade the Beautiful Land. Many countries will fall, but Edom, Moab and the leaders of Ammon will be delivered from his hand. He will extend his power over many countries; Egypt will not escape. He will gain control of the treasures of gold and silver and all the riches of Egypt, with the Libyans and Nubians (Sudan) in submission. (Daniel 11:41-42)

This view also provides the first plausible explanation I’ve seen for why Daniel was told that present day Jordan will be spared in this Grand Caliph’s “holy” quest to put the world under submission, even though Egypt, Lybia and the Sudan will be forced to bow. Sunni Moslems believe that the Grand Caliph has to be an Arab from the Hashemite family of which King Abdullah II of Jordan is the current patriarch. This helps explain Abdullah’s extra-ordinary influence in middle eastern affairs and why he “unofficially” controls the TempleMount. The Hashemites once held sway over the entire Middle Eastand served as custodians of all Moslem Holy Sites.

I’m not saying that Abdullah II is the anti-Christ. Remember, Daniel 11:41 says that Jordan and its leaders will be delivered from the anti-Christ’s control. I believe Jordan will be left alone out of deference to King Abdullah’s genealogy as the 43rd direct descendant of the prophet through Mohamed’s daughter Fatima, and his closest living relative.

No, it’s more likely that al Mahdi (also known as the anti-Christ) who will be senior even to Abdullah II, will bring the Kings of the North and the South into submission while sparing Jordan. Incredibly, in a way only God could manage, this makes Petra, a mountainous area about 3 hours south of Jordan’s capitol Ahman, the perfect hiding place for the believing Jews during the Great Tribulation.

And this view explains why, with all the quicker and easier ways of executing people available, the one mentioned in Revelation is beheading. We’ve only recently been made aware of Islamic terrorists’ preference for this method. For generations Biblical scholars were ridiculed for their insistence on a literal understanding of beheading as the method of execution in Tribulation times. That all changed when we got to Iraq.

The biggest mistake the West makes is to ignore the religious undercurrents in the Islamic Middle East. As recent events have already shown, Moslems will always choose to be governed by Islamic law rather than western style democracy, given the chance. Their religion teaches them that Islamic law is more just. And the goal of Islam is a world wide Caliphate where there are only two kinds of people, those who submit and those who are targets for execution.

He was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that it could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. (Rev. 13:15)

And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. (Rev. 20:4)

All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world. (Rev. 13:8)

There’s a lot of interest in the role of Islam in the End Times.  And from what I’m reading, a lot of misunderstanding, too.  Recent studies are shedding some light.

It’s becoming clear that Moslems are increasing in number faster than any other religious group in the world. Their current growth rate is four times faster than that of Christians.  According to a recent survey by The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, those who practice Islam now make up nearly one-fourth of the world’s population at 1.57 billion members, second only to Christianity.   This is revolutionary  in nature and even though it’s happening right before our eyes, most Western Christians haven’t even noticed.  And not only are Moslems the fastest growing religious group in the world, they also hold that distinction in the United States, Canada and Europe, with Europe perhaps being the model of where Canada and then the US are headed.

Comparing the current birth rates of native Europeans with Europe’s Moslem immigrant population leads us to one very clear and surprising conclusion: the Europe we have known is very quickly changing into what some refer to as Eurabia, where Europe will soon find itself under the power and control of Islam. Today there are more Moslems in Germany than there are in Lebanon. France’s Moslem population, while fewer in number than Germany’s, represents a greater percentage of French citizenry,  and given the current rate at which church buildings are being converted there may soon be more mosques in England than functioning churches.

Following the rapture of the Church, Islam will be the most populous religious system on Earth by a wide margin.  Whether you believe that Islam is a religion of peace or not, it’s pretty obvious that they’re not going to just go away after the rapture and abandon their long held dream of becoming the world’s dominant religion just at the point of realizing it.

 

What About Ezekiel 38?
Don’t make the mistake of thinking that Islam will no longer be a viable religious force after the Battle of Ezekiel 38 either.  According to The Pew Forum report, the countries who will unite against Israel and be defeated there are a small percentage of the total Islamic population.  For example, the four largest Islamic countries by population aren’t even involved.  In fact, two thirds of all the world’s Moslems live in 10 countries and of those only Turkey (5) and Iran (6) are named by Ezekiel.  Rough estimates indicate that as little as 15% of the Islamic world will be represented by the forces aligned against Israel, and remember it’s only their soldiers who die in battle, not their total populations.

Compare that to what will likely happen to the 2.2 billion strong “Christian” world in the Rapture and it’s not hard to see that Islam will still be the strongest religious force on Earth as Daniel’s 70th Week begins. (After all, none of them will be raptured.)  Islam would be the obvious choice for a man who wants to use a religious system to gain control of the world.

And remember, the anti-Christ won’t be confirming a covenant with Israel for the purpose of  helping them.  He’ll be doing it to help himself.  By means of peace he’ll deceive many, Daniel warned (Daniel 8:25).  And with the exception of the fleeing Jewish remnant, the world will be deceived, saying “Peace and safety” just as sudden destruction comes upon them (1 Thes. 5:9).  But God will not be deceived.   He’s already on the record, calling it a covenant with death. (Isaiah 28:15)  But doesn’t this covenant serve God’s purpose, you ask?  Well of course everything that happens serves God’s purpose, but that doesn’t mean everything that happens is good for man.  The Jews will think they’re getting a guarantee of peace but God will use the covenant to usher in Daniel’s 70th Week, a time when He’ll completely destroy the nations, and purify His covenant people. It’ll be anything but peaceful.

Let’s also remember how crafty the enemy is.  For example, MI-6, the British intelligence service, has just confirmed that Iranian Pres. Ahmadinejad, who could be one of the leaders of the Islamic coalition in Ezekiel 38, was born Jewish. The family converted when he was 4 years old.  Knowing that, how could we say the anti-Christ (who some believe has to be Jewish) could not come from an Islamic country that was once part of the Roman Empire? Please, I’m not saying Mr. Ahmadinejad is the anti-Christ.  I’m only saying that someone like him could be.

Almost 4 years ago I first reported on the similarities between Islamic prophecies of al Mahdi and Christian prophecies of the anti-Christ.  I noted how both are said to come on the scene during a time of great turmoil on Earth, both come claiming a desire to restore peace, both have a seven year reign, both head a one world religion and one world government, both claim supernatural origins, and both reigns end in a battle between good and evil that brings Earth’s final judgment. It almost sounds as if they’re the same person.

At that time the majority of prophecy students were still convinced that the anti-Christ had to be of Western European origin, aligned somehow with the Roman Catholic Church. But since then I’ve become aware of more and more who are taking a second look at this traditional view, and are considering the possibility of a coming world leader whose roots are in Islam.

A Lesson From Daniel
When Daniel had his vision of Gentile Dominion, the period of Gentile rule over the Earth, it came to him in the form of 4 great beasts.  The first was a lion, representing Babylon.  The second was a bear, the Medo-Persians, and the third was a leopard, Greece.  Then in Daniel 7:7 he said,  “After that, in my vision at night I looked, and there before me was a fourth beast—terrifying and frightening and very powerful. It had large iron teeth; it crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left. It was different from all the former beasts, and it had ten horns.” This is a reference to Rome.  In animal imagery, the horn demonstrates authority, and when used symbolically the number 10 denotes the completion of divine order.  This 4th beast would have complete authority over Earth and would never totally relinquish it until the Lord comes to take it by force. (Daniel 2: 44 )

The anti-Christ will make his first Biblical appearance in Rev. 6:2, disguised as the man on the white horse.  According to Daniel 8:25 he’ll seem to be a great peacemaker, but his intent will be to conquer the world. His true identity won’t be revealed until Revelation 13:1-2 where it becomes clear that he’s been empowered by Satan.  Verses 1- 2 describe him thus. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. He had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on his horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority.

Compare Rev. 13 to Daniel 7 and you’ll see that while the 10 horns show that he’ll have the authority of the fourth gentile kingdom, his identifying characteristics will be more like the first three of Daniel’s beasts. Babylon, Persia, and Greece were all oriented toward the East.  Only Rome had a western orientation (which made it different from the other three, as Daniel noted) Could this mean that the anti-Christ will also look first to the East (Isalm) to consolidate his power?

Time will tell.  In his  interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, Daniel told us how the end times version of the 4th kingdom would be characterized by inner conflict.  He said that where it had once been as two strong legs of iron (the Eastern and Western divisions of Biblical times) rebuilding it at the end it would be like trying to mix iron and clay. (Daniel 2:40-43)  He could have been describing some of the social unrest we’ve witnessed in several European countries as their native populations have not always responded well to Moslem immigration.

My purpose in writing this is not in any way to confirm or endorse the views of some experts on Islam  who’ve who’ve burst on the scene recently with all sorts of new interpretations of Christian prophecy.  It’s to remind us all to keep our eyes open.  Things are happening fast and will continue to challenge our traditional perspective.   Daniel was told that as the End of the Age approaches knowledge will increase (Daniel 12:4).  That means we’ll be given a clearer understanding of how events will unfold  than those who came before us.  This will happen through careful observation, actually seeing the pieces of the puzzle fall into place and comparing them to Scripture.  But God knows the end from the beginning, so none of this is new to Him.  Where we see change, He just sees a closer alignment of Earthly events with Heavenly truth.  It’s time to keep an open Bible handy as we watch the headlines because we now have another reason to search the Scriptures daily (Acts 17:11).  You can almost hear the footsteps of the Messiah.